JSPES, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Winter 2013)
pp. 462 –475

BOOK REVIEW ARTICLE In the Wake of Mandela: Paul Theroux’s Latest Look at Sub-Saharan Africa

Dwight D. Murphey

Wichita State University, retired

The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari
Paul Theroux
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013

The death of Nelson Mandela has brought new attention to
South Africa, and more generally to sub-Saharan Africa. The wellknown travel author Paul Theroux has recently followed up his 2003 book Dark Star Safari, based on a gritty back-packing trip down Africa’s east side, with the present volume based on a similar trip to South Africa, Namibia and Angola in Africa’s southwest quadrant. The remarkable thing about Theroux is that he mixes a compassionate love of the people with an honest, straight-talking account of unadorned reality. In neither book is his picture of sub-Saharan Africa encouraging. They are both recommended for readers who wish to see Africa – and especially the new post-Apartheid South Africa – without blinders on.